Textile apparatus



June 19, 1951 @385 2,557,185

TEXT ILE APPARATUS Filed July 25, 1949 INVENTOR. BRADFORD C. GIBBS Patented June 19, 1951 2,557,1s TEXTILE APPARATUS Bradford C. Gibbs, Teaneck, N. J., assig'nor to Celanese Corporation of America, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application July 23, 1949, Serial No. 106,467

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to textile apparatus and relates more particularly to a jig for dyeing or otherwise treating textile materials such as fabrics.

As is well known, the essential elements of a jig comprise two rollers on which a textile material may be wound and a vat for holding the treating liquid, such as a dyebath, through which the textile material passes as it is transferred from one roller to the other. Each of the rollers is equipped with a brake and also with a driving mechanism, which driving mechanisms are so arranged that they rotate the rollers in opposite directions. In dyeing or otherwise treating a textile material on the jig, the material is drawn from one of the rollers to which a braking force is applied, passes through the treating liquid and is wound onto the second roller, which latter is caused to rotate by energizing the driving mechanism connected thereto. After all of the textile material has passed through the treating liquid in one direction and has been wound on one of the rollers, the driving mechanism connected to said roller is cut off and a braking force applied thereto, and the driving mechanism connected to the other roller is energized, causing the material to pass through the treating liquid in the opposite direction and be wound on said other roller. The textile material is passed through the treating liquid repeatedly in this manner until the desired treatment thereof has been effected.

One of the major problems in dyeing or otherwise treating a textile material on a jig is to maintain a controlled, uniform tension on the material as it is transferred from one roller to the other, which is especially difficult because the driving and braking forces on the material as well as the linear speed thereof fluctuate as the effective diameter of the rollers varies with the quantity of material thereon. If the tension on the material is too high, the material will be stretched excessively. If, on the other hand, the tension on the material varies from point to point, the material will be distorted. Because this problem had not been solved successfully, it has hitherto been impossible to dye certain types of textile material on a jig.

It is an important object of this invention to provide a jig which will be free from the foregoing and other disadvantages of prior lies and which will be especially simple in construction and efficient in operation.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a jig for dyeing or otherwise treating textile materials which will maintain a controlled, uniform tension on the materials at all times.

Other objects of this invention, together with certain details of construction and combinations of parts, will be apparent from the following detailed description and claims.

In accordance with my invention, I provide a jig, wherein a textile material is passed through a bath as it is transferred from one roller to another, with a sensing element whose position is determined by the tension on said material. The sensing element is connected to a fluid-operated braking mechanism in such a manner that as the position of the sensing element changes with the tension on the material, the braking force applied by said braking mechanism to the roller from which the textile material is being drawn varies inversely with the tension on the material, thereby maintaining a controlled uniform tension on the material at all times so as to avoid either excessive stretching or distortion thereof. With the apparatus of my invention. it is possible to dye or otherwise treat many types of textile material on a jig, which textile materials could not be treated successfully in this manner heretofore.

In the accompanying drawing the figure illustrates diagrammatically a preferred embodiment of the jig of my invention. I

Referring now to the drawing, the reference numerals II and I2 designate rollers, each of which is equipped in a manner well understood in the art with a driving mechanism (not shown) to rotate the rollers in opposite directions. Wound on the roller II is a textile material such as a fabric 13, which fabric is fastened at one end to the roller II and at the other end to the roller l2, and which fabric is transferred repeatedly from one to the other of said rollers through a vat If during the dyeing or other treatment thereof. From the rollers I I and I2, the fabric I l3 passes over guide rolls l5 and I6 fastened to the opposite end of an arm ll, pivoted substantially centrally thereof at [8, that permits the guide rolls l5 and Hi to move relative to the rollers H and I2 as. the quantity of fabric there- 'on varies, thereby effecting a more uniform winding of the fabric onto said rollers. The fabric I3 also passes over guide rolls I 9 and 20 and under immersion rolls 2| and 22, which immersion rolls are positioned below the level of the bath in the vat H to immerse the fabric in said bath. Positioned between the immersion rolls 2| and 22, is a sensing roll 23, which is mounted at the lower end of a rod 24 extending through a stationary guide block 25 fastened to the framework of the jig in any suitable manner. The rod 24 is pressed upwardly by a helical spring 26 which is positioned between the guide block 25 and a nut 21 that is in threaded engagement with the upper end of the rod 24. The topof the sensing roll 23 is at a higher level than the bottom of the immersion rolls 2| and 22, and the fabric |3, after passing under said immersion rolls, is threaded over said sensing roll.

A fluid operated braking mechanism, indicated generally by reference numeral 29, is positioned The braking.

between the rollers H and i2. mechanism 29 comprises a. cylinder 29 having a piston 3| slidably mounted therein and, fastened to opposite sides of the piston 3|, piston rods 32 and 33 carrying brake shoes 34 and 35, which are adapted to engage brake drums 38 and 3'! fastened to the rollers i and |2,respectively. Fluid, under pressure, for operating the braking mechanism 28 is supplied thereto from a suitable source (not shown) through a conduit 38. The fluid, after passing through a regulator valve 39 which limits the rate of flow of fluid therethrough, enters a conduit 4| leading to a two-way valve 42 that permits fluid to be admitted to the cylinder 29 on either side of the piston 3| through conduits 43 and 44 and permits fluid to be discharged from the other side of the piston 3|, to cause a braking force to be applied to the roller I or the roller |2. Connected to the conduit 4| is a branch conduit 45 leading to a needle valve 4'6, through the orifice of which the fluid can bleed to reduce the pressure applied to the piston 3|, which pressure is registered on a gauge 41. Bearing against the orifice of the needle valve 46 to prevent the fluid from bleeding therefrom is a disk 48 mounted at one end of a pivotaliy mounted arm 49, whose other end is bifurcated and engages a pin fixed to the rod 24.

When the fabric I3 is being transferred from the roller H to the roller l2, the two way valve 42 is set to connect the conduit 4| to the conduit 43 so that the brake shoe 34 will be urged against the brake drum 36 thereby applying a braking force to the roller I I. So long as there is no tension on the fabric l3, the spring 26 will hold the arm 24 in its uppermost position with the disk 48 closing the orifice of the needle valve 45 to prevent the fluid from bleeding therefrom, as shown in full lines in the accompanying drawing, so that a maximum pressure will be exerted on the piston 3| and a maximum braking force will be applied to the roller As the tension on the fabric |3 increases, the sensing roll 23 and the rod 24 will be forced downwardly, compressing the spring 26. The pin 5| will be carried downwardly with the rod 24, pivoting the arm 49 so as to move the disk 48 away from the orifice of the needle valve 46 and permit the fluid to bleed through the orifice of said valve as shown in dotted lines in the accompanying drawing. This will lower the pressure on the piston 3|, causing a decrease in the braking force on the roller thereby reducing the tension on the fabric l3. During operation, the arm 49 will assume an equilibriumposition permitting the fluid to bleed continuously from the orifice of the needle valve 48 at such a, rate as to maintain a controlled, uniform tension on the fabric l3 at all times. After all of the fabric l3 has been transferred from the roller H to the roller l2, the two-way valve 42 is rotated to connect the conduit 4| to the conduit 44, which will cause a braking force to be applied to the roller l2 as the fabric is drawn therefrom and wound on the roller 1 I. This process is repeated as many times as is necessary to effect the desired dyeing or other treatment of the fabric i3.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of i1- lustration and that many variations may be made ierein without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:'

1. In a jig wherein a textile material is passed through a treating liquid as it is transferred from one roller to another, the combination with a sensing roll over which the material passes, of a spring for urging the sensing roll against said material whereby the positionof the sensing roll is determined by the tension on said material, a fluid operated brake having brake shoes for actin selectively on each of said rollers, and means controlled by the sensing roll for controlling the fluid pressure on said brake thereby to regulate the tension on said material.

2. In a jig wherein a textile material is passed through a treating liquid as it is transferred from one roller to another, the combination with a sensing roll over which the material passes, of a spring for urging the sensing roll against said material whereby the position of the sensing roll is determined by the tension on said material, brake drums fastened to said rollers, a fluidoperated brake including a cylinder having a piston slideably mounted therein, piston rods carrying brake shoes fastened to opposite sides of said piston, a pair of conduits for selectively supplying fluid to said cylinder on either side of said piston whereby to urge one of the brake shoes into contact with one of the brake drums, a conduit for exhausting fluid from said cylinder, and a valve controlled by said sensing element for controlling the rate at which the fluid exhausts from said brake thereby to regulate the tension on said material. 1

BRADFORD C. GIBBS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,097,592 Gibbs Nov. 2, 1937 2,469,004 Rosebrough May 3, 1949 2,472,548 Schnell June 7, 1949 

